Zistle Trade #77: scottbdoug

Back to Canada we go with another trade with Scott.  This was a larger trade then some of our previous ones, but Scott has always been a great trader and getting things sent down from Canada safely.

Scott has always been a great source for 1980's and 1990's junk wax cards.  I can probably estimate that he has sent me most of my needs for that period than anyone else. 

My favorites from this trade are those 1981 Fleer cards along the top row below.  That year was the first release for Fleer since 1963.  I am more partial to action shots compared to posed shots, so it is nice to see some in a 1981 set.

Overall, this was another great trade with Scott.  Lots of 80's needs filled and some good FFM needs. Thanks, Scott!

Zistle Trade #76: The_Sandlot

I had not tried many different websites for card cataloging.  I found Zistle and settled right in because of how simple and intuitive it was to catalog my cards.  The best feature, to me, is by far the Trade Manager.  It was not with out it issues, but it kept things fairly organized.

Once word came out about Zistle's "sale" I knew I had to work out some large trades.  This trade was with Joe, who is a "Dog trainer by day, Mets super collector by night."

Joe sent along some nice vintage needs which is never a bad thing.

A lot of teams like to keep things in the family when it comes to their broadcast announcers.  The Mets are no different here.  Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling make up two-thirds of the Mets TV announcing team along with Gary Cohen.  They get a lot of high praise for their work, too.  They even have their own Instagram account @garykeithron.

I watch a lot of Mets games on the MLB At Bat app which allows you to select which TV feed you want to watch.  I typically watch the home feed when I watch other, non-Mets, games.  There is a distinct difference I hear from the announcers.  Some are good.  Some are boring.   It tells me how lucky Mets fans are to have such a great announcing team.

The highlight of the trade for me is the Daniel Murphy card below.  I was always a fan of Murphy and felt he always had the skills to be an All-star (except in the outfield).   It is nice to see Murphy being among the best players in the league.  It sucks to see that happen with the Nationals.

Another highlight of this trade for me was the Luis Ayala card.  Nothing special about this card except the image used.  It is a fitting choice since this card completed that Topps base set for me.

Zistle Trade #75: Ryans0625

This Zistle trade was with Ryan.  He reached out with a large trade request.  We both ran into some missing cards, but easily worked it out. 

By happenstance, four of the cards below depict the Mets playing the Cubs at Wrigley Field.  The Todd Hundley and Carlos Baerga cards look like they could be from the same game, but unlikely because those cards are from different release years.  It could be possible for the Baerga and Rey Ordonez cards to be the same game or even the same series.  I wonder if there is a way to find out these things?

I understand that photo shopping is sometimes necessary, but it really should not be used.  The Mo Vaughn card below is a good example of bad photo shopping.  There is nothing that I can think of that relates the Mets to mountains.  I recall Vaughn being a big guy, but something seems off about his body here.

Ryan also sent some nice shiny cards my way.  I dig the Jacob deGrom Future Stars chrome card.  It isn't grammatically correct since it features just one star, but I enjoyed the Future Star cards back in the day.  Sure, Topps was probably wrong more times than right with their choices, but it was a nice feature to the cards.

Topps started the Future Stars card back in the 80's when they would feature multiple players on the card.  Later in the 80's they changed it to just showcasing one player, but kept the plural tense on the cards.  I would think the 1987 Topps Bo Jackson card is the most recognized one.  Topps kept the tradition going, but would correct the cards to show the singular tense.

They changed the design over the years into the 90's and eventually stop it's use after 1996.  Topps eventually brought back the wrong tensed Future Stars in the 2014 flagship release.

Overall, this was an excellent trade.  Thanks for the cards, Ryan!